The Second Plague Rat
by Zaunite Koopa
Summary: According to Twitch, his sentience experiments have finally bore fruit in creating another Plague Rat, but it ran off into the darkness, and Twitch demands that ZAC and his numerous roachmen find it and be brought back to his "kingdom".
1. The Sentience Experiments

"Start the cauldron!" I shout as I approach my humble lair. If no one hears their fellow king, surely the tunnels will bring my message to my loyal subjects. I can hear my subjects' skittering in the walls to spread it around. Only a fool wouldn't hear the decree of the sewer king. I look down at my journal and began to check my list one by one, ensuring I got everything for this experiment. My hand scope around the dirty leather pouches that covered my body.

"Strength of Shimmer, some of the sewers' rivers.. Yes.. yes...

"Goopy One's mush... the automation's blood.. Yes.. I have that. "

"Surface Dweller's flesh.. Praised fruits, fresh.. Yes.. Wait.. am I forgetting something.."

My hands begin to grasp firmly on the things that I listed. Shimmer, River, Mush, Blood, Flesh, Fresh. Repeat. Shimmer, River, Mush, Blood, Flesh, Fresh. Repeat. Shimmer, River, Blood. Repeat. Shimmer, River. Repeat and repeat and repeat an- CRACK!

I freeze in my pose. My hand was reaching behind my back at the cask holding the automation's blood. I feel a small twinge of pain. My eyes slowly dart towards it in apprehension. It wasn't easy to kill a metal slave! They were never easy... It takes a while for their bodies to ripen to steal their sentient lifeline from them.. and I need it! It's how they become smart! It's how my army will become smart! Slowly and slowly until I turned around to find my long fingernails cracking the cask's shell. It isn't leaking in that very second, but it will eventually.

I hold it in my hands and rush to my lair as soon as possible. "START THE CAULDRON! START THE CAULDRON!" I begin to shout frantically. I run and run, seeing parts of the blood leaving through the cracks that my fingers were unable to block. My hand grows black from the effects of its wretched color. "START THE CAULDRON! START THE CAULDRON! START THE CAULDRON!" I shout again, louder this time so every roach would tremble at my voice. So that the entire sewers knew that this, this will be the time of the Plague Rat!

The lair is within my sights now, a large open pipe covered by a blank white tarp. I tore the tarp open and see the shadow of the rusty, golden metal pot in the distance. I threw the casks, the fluids, the ingredients all into its body and.. it isn't boiling. IT ISN'T BOILING! I look below the cauldron to see the flames were not lit as I asked.

"I'm coming!" ZAC shouts, holding a match for a burning fire in his large green hands. He throws it underneath and the metal begins to heat up.

"What were you doing this entire time!?" I shout angrily. "Did you not hear your superior's commands!?"

"I... I was busy with something pal. That's all that was," ZAC said pitifully.

"Hmph. Probably daydreaming about your stupid beloved surface... Ugh! What does it matter!? Give Twitch the stirring stick!" I lunged myself to grab the large metal rod and held it by the rubber end. I stirred and stirred until the colors of white, black, yellow, green merged into a single brown. I sniff its lovely scent and cackle. "Yes.. Yes.. Yes! This! This will do!" I shout happily. I looked behind me and found a cracked wall. I opened a piece of it to find my collection of rats in a large metal cage. Only one is found and only one caught my sight. "Hehe.. Time for YOUR turn to shine!" I grab the rat's body, immune to its bites and squirming. I dragged him to the cauldron and dug my hand inside the liquid. To the rat, it was the painful impulse to mutate to grow sentient, but for me... Hehe.. Twitch was immune to the liquids burns after so many times, so much experience! He was the first, and this will be the second!

It pulsed and grew and pulsed and grew and pulsed and grew until it couldn't take it anymore. I felt its hands relax in the liquid and its head falling on to the top of my hand. It couldn't take it anymore. I knew what happened. My hand rose with the rat's body and the rapid breathing that I felt before was no longer there.

* * *

I didn't watch as he took the body out. I never really did. It was always too much for me and my yellow eyes, but I could always feel it. I could sense the rat's cry for help as his master plunged him in. Twitch's disappointment and unbridled rage as his shouts echo from the pipes. Even the body hitting the floor made me physically flinch, knowing well that I would have to clean it up. Once the body ricocheted to my sight, I begin to feel hateful. I remember back to the times when I was ordered to hold the rat and plunge it to its death instead of Twitch himself and just watch the body wither away under the "potion's" effects. It wasn't as if Twitch didn't know that it would fail. It always failed. It failed this time. It failed last time! It failed the time before that! Just make it end already! I kick the body behind the tarp that marked the entrance of our home.

"Twitch! We gotta sto-" I cease to finish the sentence when I saw Twitch's hopeless glare into the "potion".

"Why didn't it work," he began to mutter repeatedly. It almost seemed like he was on the verge of tears as hope began to shatter. His hands slammed on the metal cauldron. "Why didn't it work..? How many times must it take to get it to work!"

I frowned at this sight as all anger within me seemed to wash away, only to be transformed into pity. I stretched my green hand to his shoulder.

"Sign. Hey bud. Why don't we take a break?" I said politely, trying to piece back together what hope he had left. I looked into the cauldron, both of our stressed faces reflecting back as the green lantern stood above us. "Maybe some time outside of this lair can get you some fresh new ideas, huh? Seems like we both need it."

Twitch looked up, glaring. "Fine.." He mumble bitterly. "I'll take your advice. I'm not stalking surface dwellers like you Goopy One.." Twitch began to walk away from the lair and mutter things under his breath that I couldn't hear. Eventually, he went past the tarp, and I couldn't see him anymore. The coast was clear.

I went to my side of the lair to a box covered with a trash bag. I lifted it to reveal a cage. There wasn't originally 1 rat behind that wall.

* * *

I opened the manhole carefully to not make a sound. I brought myself up with the cage and found a cultivair in front of me, with its high glass dome and its healthy vegetation inside. Behind it, there was a large steel mansion looming over it. A chem baron's mansion of course, and it was on top of a cliff, looking over the poor populous of Zaun and the factories billowing the smoke up to the heights of Piltover. "Looks like we're home fellas," I said as I took the cage out. I carried it over to the door of the cultivair with its keyhole. I shaped my hand and solidified into the shape of a key, put it in, and turned slowly, changing my hand whenever necessary.

Click! The door opened to a world isolated from my own. I went in and breathed in the fresh air created by the plants around me. I place the cage down. I open it and watch as the 5 rats collected flood out of the gates to explore the fauna around them and investigate for food. It makes me smile as I watch them play and move freely after who knows how long behind that piece of cement. This wasn't the only place I drop them off, but it's probably the best place for them.

And then I looked up, to see the massive chem baron's castle so clearly behind the glass, seemingly enveloping us in our shadow. I always try not to look at it. It always brings harmful memories. I feel the presence of steel on my skin and the injection of needles. I see the people in their lab coats and glasses above me, wanting to use me, as I look through the cage of glass... I see the animals they experimented on and thrown like garbage when they were no use to them. They even tried to kill one of them in front of my face to get a reaction out of me..

Let's not think about that. This was supposed to be a happy time! A time of freedom and joy to the creatures he freed from future experiments. I look down to find them, but they were already gone into the grass, impossible to see. Guess they were really eager to get started. Not my job to watch them after all.

I turned around and decided to watch the yellow and green glimmers of Zaun below me, still alit and alive. I imagine the music. I imagine the lives that they lead. Must be nice. I sit on the cool grass staring through the glass for what seemed like hours.

* * *

I close the manhole above me, only to be greeted by a roach staring up at me. At first, I ignore it, thinking it's just a bystander, but as I walk, I begin to see more roaches popping up from the cracks of the sewers until I couldn't count them anymore. I stop in my tracks and look at them. While I couldn't speak roach like Twitch, I understood their message loud and clear: something urgent happened.


	2. The Green Rat

I run through the pipes and make my way deeper and deeper into the twisted sewers below. It always disturbs me on how quiet and calm the sewers are, where all I could hear were my thoughts, loud thoughts of worry and fear. I was so used to the yellow lights above and the fire of kindness humans shared with each-other, but here.. it was so empty. So dark. So cold. I've been here for what seems like a year now, but it always seems new to me, as if the sewers itself was changing shape as I went down, like it was alive.

Eventually, as I go deeper and deeper, I hear a small cackle echoing in the vast emptiness of the tunnels. It seems broken, in-pain, yet distinctly.. happy. I begin to see his silhouette. Twitch held his hands firmly as he limps through. There are times when he stops to lean on the wall, gasping for air. "He lives.." Twitch repeatedly rambles on and on. "He lives.. He lives.. He lives! Hehe.. Heh. Heh. I saw him go this way. I saw him! He grows.. He jumps.. he breathes! Heh. He fights! He runs! HE LIVES! Must find him.. Must find him.. Heh. Hehe.."

I grow worried as I hear this. What happened while I was gone? I hop out of the pipes and manifest myself into my natural physical form. Twitch's ears perks up at the sound and jerks his head towards me. He quickly took a stance to go into camouflage, but then he realize who it was.

"ZAC!" He shouts happily like a child. So much happened! You must help me!"

"Heh. I could tell pal. A lot of bugs came to me. Uh.. what got ya so happy?"

"Well.. let me show you.. You must se- Augh!" Twitch cries as he fell in his more rodent-like stance. All 4 legs on the ground.

"Twitch!?" I ask as I run towards him. I bend down and try to lift him up. As I reach for his hands, I felt the usual burns from sentience experiments, but then I felt loose fur and scars. I look up to where his beady eyes would've been. He just looks at me as he begins to laugh. I could see the shadows of his sharp teeth and the edges of his maniacal smile. "Hehe.. He did this you know.. Hehe.."

I just look at him, puzzled and worried. "..who?" I mutter out.

"Haha.. Haha! Hahaha! You should've seen it.. YOU SHOULD'VE SEEN IT! HAHAHA! HAHA! HEE! HEE!" He couldn't stop. He couldn't control himself. He couldn't move. He fell to the ground as his cackles are carried by the empty tunnels of Zaun and his pink eyes cried of laughter and joy.

* * *

I march towards the pipe that acted as the entrance to Twitch's lair with Twitch sprawled on my back. As I approach the pipe, I see the tarp that hanged in front ripped to shreds, clearly revealing the sole green lantern behind it above the metal cauldron in which steam is rising from it. My skin begins to tingle at the very sight of it. I tip-toed slowly towards it, inching my way into the lair as slowly as possible as if the entire area was being watched by some unseen predator. I look around the wet concrete floor to see the usual bones and cracked glass, but also fur and imprints. Cracked concrete filled with new excess poison and arrows. As I make my observations, Twitch begins to point out certain parts of the area while mumbling about them faintly. "That's where I tried to shoot.. How stupid I was hehe.. ...Ooh! He ran over there.. I could see his footprints at one point! ...That's where he just stood there.. and grow.. and PULSE! He glowed green when he does that and he shed so much fur.."

Once I finally made my way over to my trashbag bed, I sat Twitch down and felt for his hand. I could feel the scars bleeding out. I grab a roll of paper towels that I kept on standby and pressed my hand to his. Twitch grits his teeth at the warm sensation of my healing, as my flesh tried to mesh with his to invigorate the skin cells growth. "Hey.. I know it's a bit uncomfortable, but.. tell me about what happened." I glance at the steaming cauldron with the green lantern hanging above its chains. "Must be a real great story huh..?"

"You don't know the half of it.. Heh. When you left to do.. whatever you do up there! I walked around the sewers thinking of what you said, Goopy One! And when I was thinking about my new ideas, a new chemical showed up on my footsteps! It dropped all of a sudden! Yes.. It must be the sewers itself.. It must be giving me a sign that my kingdom must prosper!"

"Wow.. Nice luck, pal."

"Heh. It's not luck! It's a blessing.. Twitch always gets the best blessings y'know.. Heh. I put it in and the smell changes. I put my first subject in.. and he begin to fight! Fight with such ravenous force that he escaped!" Twitch pointed to a large crack in the wall. I walk towards it and tried to look inside. There was nothing inside.. or at least, I assume not. The only way I could see it was through the dim green light from the lantern. "The roaches.. they've been trying to find him.. Scratch.. That's the name I'll call him! But they keep failing me I tell you! They lead me everywhere.. To the east and to the west.. To the north and to the south! Up and down! Left and right! Twitch thinks that his roaches are on to something I tell you.. They're trying to get in my way!"

"Hey.. let's calm down buddy," I said, moving my head away from the large empty black crack towards Twitch's wild eyes. "Let's.. calm down for a second. You're injured. Your hands are bleeding. It's been a wild day, but everyone needs to relax y'know?"

"But.. But IT LIVES! My newest subject.." Twitch tries to stand himself up, but as his hands reach the pavement he begin to feel pain.

He grunts out as ZAC quickly reaches for his hand. "Hey. I'll help in any way that I can, but right now.. you need some rest. This isn't good for you buddy. You make me worried sometimes. Not letting you out of here.." I wrap his hands with a paper towel and tied it real tight. Once I was done, he moves his hand away from me with his sharp anger and frustration cutting through my skin.

"Hmph! It better be worth it.. I better have no blood coming from my hands.. No more pain!"

"Hey. You won't. Will be done in a heartbeat." I wrap Twitch up in a little trash bag blanket before going to my own bed. I didn't lie down. I just sit there, watching Twitch as he tried to sleep.

* * *

I remember it. I always see it as I sleep. I remember the moment I hesitated. He clawed at my hand as I held him. He fought back relentlessly and relentlessly until I couldn't handle it anymore. I instinctively grab the crossbow and started firing. Firing everywhere to kill the one who did this to me, Twitch! Everything happened so fast as my ears begin to drone out every sound. Every pitter. Every skitter. Every crack. Every sound that I could hear. All I heard was the trigger until I saw.. him. My creation in front of the entrance. It pulsed and glowed green. It just sits there growing and growing and growing until it is half my size.. I just stared.. aiming the crossbow at him, pulling my hand away from the trigger. It looked beautiful. Its green fur and its wild eyes.. Another plague rat in the making.. Another of my kind! But.. as it opened its eyes from the pain and looked at me for a tiny millisecond, it ran.

It took me a while to process that he had the audacity to run away from his maker. I couldn't waste anymore time. I strap the crossbow behind my back. I put all of it on my back. I started to pounce, to run after my newest subject ! Then.. my hand hit the pavement, and my arms begin to crumble. As my poor head hit the floor, I jolted up from my slumber. I look around to see the Goopy One sleeping on his bed, sitting straight up, his head towards me. Was he spying on me? No matter! I reach for my crossbow and continue my search.

As I march up to the tunnels, searching around the area... I see him. I see him glowing a faint green light. I see him glowing in the end of the tunnels . He looked huge. Gigantic. My size even! maybe bigger.. "Scratch..?" I mumble out. I couldn't control myself. I run. I run towards it. My arms tried desperately to grab the creature that I know was mine. As I ran and ran, the green light begins to fade. No! He can't be gone! He can't be gone! I can reach him before he leaves! I can reach him before he runs away again! Eventually as I ran, the light fades to black, and my hand begins to feel a concrete wall. I feel a tinge of pain, but not as severe as earlier. I felt my hand.. It wasn't bleeding anymore, more reasons to continue! I listen.. I listen to the cracks of the walls. Skitter. Skitter. Skitter. He's still here! He may have left, but he couldn't have run so far! I must find him! I sprawl out on the floor, enduring the small twinges of pain for my search as I begin to hear the sounds of the second plague rat! I listen closer and closer until that was all I heard in the dark night of the sewers. He must be here..

Skitter. Skitter. Skitter.


	3. Safe in Our Own Worlds

"It wasn't possible.." I keep saying in my sleep. I see myself in the sewers, being able to see through the walls. I watch the insides of the lair as if a movie and try to piece together the hints I saw. In the scene, I investigate the cracks, the arrows, and even the blood from afar, yet I can't help but repeat the words "it just couldn't happen.." I play through the scene what seemed like the millionth time, changing details in attempt to increase plausibility. Which cracks were formed by who.. when exactly did he go.. I rewind and rewind and rewind. I imagine the squeaks of the rat, Twitch initial panic, and the two bleeding out together as they chased each other. Squeaks and cackles and screams.. I couldn't take it anymore. I turn away from the scene of the crime and start marching towards the surface.

"It.. probably died as it ran away.." I told myself. "Still came from Twitch. I need a real dream.." As I march onward, I see a bright light in the distance, with its warm glow flowing inside me. It feels like home as I sigh the fresh air that was so rare in the sewers. I run towards it, excited to see what will be behind it, but as I went through the hole, everything seemed small. I look up, and I see its source. A lamp above a massive lab table that towers above me. This isn't what I wanted. This isn't the homely nature I seek. I turn back, but the hole behind me wasn't there anymore. All that was left is a concrete wall where no one can hear your screams or your cries.

There the footsteps follow. I shook and shiver at the floors rumble. I look around to find a hiding spot, but I realize there weren't any. They already took them out long ago just in case something like this happened. I quickly run to the corners and feel the wall for cracks. Please open up. Please take me out!

Step. Step. Step. I couldn't take it anymore. I rub for everything, but it was all smooth. The door creaks open. The shadow emerges from the door and sees me. "Time to test for stability," he says apathetically. He quickly turns his head to me with his red eyes. He walks over to me, his footsteps making me jump as they get louder and louder. I try to run, but my small legs couldn't get me out.

"There you are.." he said as he comes closer and closer. I couldn't go anywhere. I begin to cry out. Cry loudly for someone. Anyone. I begin to curl up in a defensive ball. "Help please!" I sob. "Help Please!"

"Don't worry.." he begin to mutter. His tone changed this time. "I'm here to help you.."

I look up in reaction. I see a hunched body with large ears. The shadow of a hand came for me before I could even mutter out his name.

* * *

I jolt up. I look around and hear the familiar creaking of the green lantern above the cauldron. The liquid is still inside except colder. "Twitch?" I ask before looking at the other bed to see he isn't there. "TWITCH!?" I ask loudly. I stand up and run outside of the lair to find him. I simply headed straight and call his name with my voice echoing in the tunnels, bringing my plea. "Twitch you th-" I stop as I begin to feel something beneath my foot. It's hard like bone with dirty coarse fur.. I look down and see a shadow of Twitch sprawling on the floor with his arms and legs all spread out, now awake from his slumber. He just looks up at me. "Ow.. Goopy One that hurt.." Twitch grumble, too tired to be angry.

"I.. I'm sorry about that pal, but I'm more concerned about what you're doing here."

"I.. I can't sleep.. You can't blame me Goopy One. My creation.. my subject is out there.."

"Well.. I think your safety should be more important," I respond as I carry Twitch up to my shoulders.

"But.. I must! It.. it ran away from me.." the rat said, rather dejectedly.

I pat his back for comfort. "Hey.. It's okay, but you should be in a better state of mind before you try something out." Hopefully that state of mind could help clear his head. "I don't want you wandering around the sewers in your sleep, pal. I was worried." I thought for a second and came up with an idea. "Hey. I know a place for you to relax a bit. I always go here."

"Is it your stupid surface.."

"Well.. no. It's actually in your sewers. I think you'll like it. I know I do." I begin to carry him across the tunnels, knowing my way through the labyrinth. I could still here the rat's muttering to his delusions as I went, how he concocted strategies of where the rat would be. It concerned me on how he obsesses over these unhealthy thoughts. "Hey.. Twitch," I blurt out. I need to find a way to distract him. "I.. missed storytime with Twitch! Last night. We didn't get to it because of all of what happened. Wanna tell me one now?"

"Hm? Bah! Why do you want to hear a story when something's more important!" he replies. "I'm telling you he's out there, and you want to goof around with fiction!?"

I bit my lip. "Uh.. no. I don't. I just.. wanted to hear one, y'know?"

"Hmph! Get your priorities straight.. " We walk in silence for a few seconds only with Twitch's muttering and the rushing of sludge and sewage. I begin to drone out at this calming sense, but the whispers behind me ground me to reality, like ghosts trying to bring me back.

"Hey.." I said abruptly. The whispers behind me stop.

"What is it?" Twitch ask.

"Um.. that rat.. he entered the hole right?"

"Yes.. what of it?"

"And you didn't see him after that?"

"Why no.. but I know he's out there. He has to be! Hehe.. He's tough. Plague rats are tough! He's out there."

I bit my lip again. "Uh... what about the possibility that.. he isn't?" I ask reluctantly.

There was nothing but moments of silence. I resist the urge to freeze in my tracks out of guilt.

"What do you mean?" he growls.

But I didn't answer; I see the light at the very end of the dark tunnels of the sewer. It's radiance enriching my skin as I walk towards it. "Hey. We're here!" I shout. "Oh.. you need this pal."

I look out to the light to see the view of an ocean from the eastern side of Zaun. The stars glittered in the purple night before the orange horizon begin to overtake them. I hear the ocean waves crashing and the fresh breeze carrying the salt of the waters below me. I breath it in, releasing a sigh of relief. There was nothing but the vast blue seas. No Zaun. No delusions. No violence. Just.. peace.

"Isn't this great?" I said. "Just nothing but the ocean and the stars... The whole world ahead of us. The sewers get cramped for a while doesn't it?"

Twitch is merely confused. "..how is this supposed to help. Giving me tainted air!"

"It's.. it's not tainted.." I mumble. "Here. Just take a few breaths. Should help ya. Clear some thoughts and all. You just seem on edge.."

"Well I need to be on edge, Goopy One! he could be anywhere! ANYWHERE!"

"And that's what I'm worried about. Just.. take a deep breath and relax.."

"NO!" Twitch shouts. "Unhand me at once in this entrapment! I know he's there! And if you think some tainted air will 'clear that up'..." The rat wrestled his hand to his back. "THEN YOU'RE WRONG!" Twitch slam the cask to my neck and my grip on him wavers in response to the poison. He jumps away, running back to his kingdom of the sewers, to his own world. "Twitch?" I shout as I run towards him to the twisting tunnels. I run and run, losing track of where I was, only listening to the footsteps of the plague rat. I run blindly and blindly until I can finally see what seems to be his shadow.

"There you are.. You shouldn't run like that, Twitch!" I shout. "I'm.. I'm just trying to help, and I just wanted to help you! I.." Upon closer inspection, the shadow was missing some details. Like the brace on Twitch's shoulder. The casks on Twitch's back. The coat. I step forward curiously, only to see the it pulse green and grow in size slightly. The veins seem to bulge out fiercely and the fur rose. I step back, hearing his scream out, but only slightly to hide his pain from his captor. I could hear his heavy breathing as he collapses on the floor.

"Hey.. I'm here to help you," I said gently in pitch darkness, with only our shadows visible. I stretch my arms slowly towards him, but he keeps moving backwards. Once I felt his fur, he attacked.


	4. The Castle Underneath

The claws snatch at my body, trying to dig into the outer parts of my skin. He tries to push me away so it could back into the darkness to hide, but I wouldn't allow it. I grab the rat's wrists. My fingers pressed on his as he tries to break from my grasp, pushing away from me as he grunts and growls and squeaks for its life. He even tries to bite my hand, but I never budged; I just sit unmoving as he did so, just trying to make out the shadow. It had large ear, coarse fur, large nose.. I could hear his rapid breathing and huffing. Eventually he just gave up, whimpering; it's heartbreaking to see. His arms gradually lost all of their strength until they all went limp.

"Hey.. I just wanna help, okay?" The rat just stares at me blankly. "I know I can be pretty scary, but I promise I'm a nice gu-" I look up only to see his confused and fearful posture. The same as always. He didn't hear a word I said. Then again, he did grew sentient yesterday. Time to think up a solution. I needed a way to talk. I look around trying to find a way to converse, but nothing was in the dark sewers.

I took the rat to a more lighter place where a manhole laid above us. I ignored the rat's silent pleas to let him go in my head as his struggling rippled my own flesh. I look up at the dim green light above us, giving us a sufficient light source to see each other. I look at the rat as he looked at me in open pink bloodshot eyes like Twitch. His fur was a murky brown instead of gray, and his skin was blotched and scared beyond all belief. His naked legs are limping and his ears twitches every 2 seconds. His sharp teeth gritted as I held on, yet as the light hit him, he looks up at the city of Zaun above him and gazes at it. It was illuminating and warm, yet alien to him. He hears the voices of the zaunites on the surface, but couldn't tell the tones of the voices. He didn't know what they were feeling, but he knew there were more than what was down here. I look up, empathizing with his destructive curiosity towards the city and quickly felt a faint sense of happiness from up there. Exhilaration.. from those voices, yet the rat hears nothing.

I glance at the rat's scars on his chest and arms. One large scar's just below the rat's wrist, evidently bleeding. Once I grab a hold of it, he's out of his trance. He fights again.

I fight back. "Listen!" I shout. He just looks up, not knowing what I said. "If. You want to go up there," I said, pointing towards the manhole. "You have to trust me." I pointed to myself. As I put my hand on the scar, I close my eyes and begin the process, letting my flesh go into his. My substance begins to reform the flesh that has been destroyed. I feel the heat coming out of me, taking my breath away as it goes to him. I hear his rampant breathing as this happens. His hands twitch more and more from the heat. I even feel the sweat coming from his fur. I stop. When my fingers turn loose, his arm jerked off from me, going back to his other hand until suddenly he realized that it wasn't bleeding. He raises his heated arm and gaze at it, wondering where the blood go. Wondering where the pain went. Then he looks at me, huffing to conserve energy.

"I'm here to help pal. I promise." I open a hand. I'll let him choose this time.

He points to the other wounds: his chest, his arms, legs, neck, and forehead. I nod yes. I'm willing to do it. He pauses and points his shaking & trembling hand up to the city. He looks around tirelessly for his creator, unsure of where he is. The water drops that clang on the pipes turn his head as his bones stiffen. I nodded yes. He paused slightly before taking my hand, and we went back to the deep depths of the sewers where no warm light reached us, where no one could find us.

* * *

I walk deeper and deeper with the rat's dragging behind me. As we walk, I tried to think about what exactly I'm doing. Twitch never wanted to kill or torture his creation. Heck, I think he didn't even want to boss it around; he just wanted someone to be with. I just needed to play along with that. "Listen.." I said, looking at the rat. "Y'know Twitch doesn't want to hurt you right?" He just stares at me blankly, not knowing what I said. i forgot he didn't know much about language. I just sigh. This was going to be hard. This entire thing was going to be hard. Just need to press through it.. That's all..

Once we were deep enough and close enough to Twitch's lair, I pointed down to the spot he should stay and gave him a signal to listen to. I knock on the pipe 5 times in a little tune, 2 sets of consecutive beats with one final beat ending it, and point to myself. If he hears that I'll be nearby. After that was explained, I walk towards the lair to tell Twitch about this. I begin to think of some neat ideas of what the three of us could do. Maybe we can play some games together. Maybe Twitch would like having a nice audience. Maybe I would have someone to come with me in the cultivairs and the commercias. The thoughts made me feel warm inside about how it could all work. It could really pay off. I just needed Twitch's help with conveying that to his creation.

I went into the lair with its lone green twisted lantern creaking and dangling. I see Twitch concerning himself with a book, writing vigorously inside it. "Hey, Twitch!" I said happily. "I have some good news for you! I-" I glance at the notebook he was writing on and it seemed to be a.. recipe. In front of the desk , there were more recipes that he pinned down to the wall as well with the center being what seemed to be the original recipe. The one with the green material with glow marks all around it. The shreds of papers scattered across the wooden table showed that this was recent. Just today.

"I don't need your news.." Twitch mutters. "I'm working on something!"

"Work? Working on what?" I ask. "Thought you would be searching for the little ra-"

"His name is Scratch!" He shouts, somewhat offended. "I told you his name is Scratch.. and my roaches are finding him! I just need to work on this.."

I raise my eyebrow. "Ok.. what's 'this'?"

"Well.." Twitch says, not diverting his attention away from his task. "I'm working on a potion.. The sentience potion worked, but he ran away..He ran away! From his own creator.. he's faulty, but I can fix it.. I can fix it.."

"How.. how are you going to fix it..?" I ask, stepping back. "What's.. what's ' _it_ '?" I repeat more firmly.

"I need to make him more obedient.. Make him listen! And I can! I can't lose him.. I can't lose this..." The crazed rat walks over to the steel cauldron and threw a match underneath. The low blue fire rose. He threw in ingredients left and right in the water. Ingredient's I didn't know existed. He seemed to ignore me at that point, going about his work as if I'm not there. As he messed with the cauldron, I look at the recipe. It had a picture of a small rat bowing before a bigger rat. I'm struck horrified as I read...

* * *

 _ **Journal Entry 710:**_

 _I realized that the sentience potion may be successful, but it didn't give me a subject.._

 _The potion must be faulty. I have to build from it! I must do it again, but with more ingredients.._

 _Which ingredients would make him listen to me, make him_ \- Doc Manager _be Twitch's loyal subject! I must explore!_

 _I just need to find those ingredients that should lead to obedience._

 _Journal Entries to look into:-_

* * *

"What are you doing!?" Twitch shouts, swiping the paper from me. "That's classified information.."

"What am I doing!?" I shout angrily. "What are YOU doing!? This isn't needed. I.. I found him!"

"You what!?" Twitch asks back.

"Yeah. I found him, and he's more than willing to be with us, but not when this happens!"

"No.. No! He'll run again! He'll run if I don't do this! He'll be mine this time.. and besides, why should I trust you!" Twitch finally turns his head, his eyes glare at him, filled with hate. "All you've done was distracted me from my work, my job as the sewer king! I need to keep subjects under control.. The king needs to make sure the subjects stays under him! Not in the surface.. Not shot or blasted by the humans!"

"What!? I didn't do any-"

"Oh really? You refused to let me search for him at night.. You take my future subjects and release them! You even tried to let some blue abyss distract me, well NOTHING DISTRACTS TWITCH! I have to do this Goopy One.. Twitch must! Twitch must.. Twitch must.." His speech began to devolve into incessant rambling and all I could do is stare. I remember the time in the labs..

"Yeah.. guess you're right," I growl. "I'm just playing your tail." Twitch didn't listen; he's too busy with his own ideas as they formed a wall between me and him. To the rat, it seemed like it's just him, the cauldron, and the green lantern faintly illuminating his way. I couldn't break it, not after so many goddamn attempts. Let him wither in his own "kingdom", in his own "castle". I walk away from the lair, planning to do to Scratch what my parents did for me long ago..

All was quiet in the sewers after that. Twitch was left alone, with only drawings to talk to.


	5. A Budding Conscience

I gather the materials. It's almost done. Just mix it and mix it and keep mixing. Once the potion's completed, I'll get them back. I'll get all of my subjects back. A speck of dust. Some human shimmer. Yes.. yes.. Maybe some shiny green rocks too! If I can find them, but there's no time! The sewers are big. They can run away quickly to some random place. Must not let them leave. Must not let them..

I stood over the cauldron looking over the liquid as it begin to bubble, showcasing the familiar green and yellow glow that has become so familiar to me now. There was only silence except the bubbles that came out. I sniffed it.. it did smell obedient potion-y. Just need one more ingredient. If it can make Scratch, then it can make him obey me! If Twitch can create sentience, what is it to say he can't create obedience!

I ran into the sewers, away from my the cauldron below where the green lantern hangs and stepping over the bones of the many sacrifices, and begin retracing my steps from the day Scratch was made. I bring out my map and looked at the routes carefully as I followed them, marking potential sites where I found the blessed ingredient in my turf. Every time I looked, the brain plays tricks, seeds of doubt of where and what it was. It's crucial to find the right ingredients.. Was it there? Was it there!? Brain do not fail me!

(Creak)

I swung my crossbow behind me. "It's mine!" I shout frantically, but no one's there. I look around the darkness, but I couldn't see much of anything in the shadows. Only memories could light the way outside of my humble lair, even as the sewer king. "I'm watching.." I warned as I continued on my path.

I appear close to the surface as dim light seep into the cracks in the concrete ceiling above me. My poor sensitive eyes squint at the exposure and I growl as my ears catch the footsteps of the many surface dwellers and the creaking of machines..

"You know. They're not all bad. Heh. I bet they'll be scared when they see you," a familiar voice says behind me.

"What are you blabbering Goopy One? They're all bad!"

"I mean.. they can be nice and friendly. That and not necessarily controlli-"

"Oh shut up ZAC! You know that I need to do this.. This.. This is different from yours! It's the sewer king's duty to keep my subjects in line! To keep them safe!" I shout, without turning to look. "You know what's up there.."

"Hey.. just look over there in the water." I follow his commands, grumbling as I did so. It isn't every day to see the sewer king take commands. I found my reflection in the water. "Now.. look at you, is that the king you want to be pal? Forcing these things in people. making us drink.. whatever that is? We're not robots.. We're not weapons."

"You're not weapons! You're my subj-"

Suddenly, in the water, I catch a green glimmer. Could it be? I dive in, making a loud splash that could easily reveal the plague rat to the populace, but I didn't care. I swam and swam until I could finally touch the blessed rock. Its soft yet hard texture. The heat that surrounds it underwater. It even slightly burns as I touch it like last time. I swam up and up victoriously until yet another splash echoes into the tunnels of the sewers.

"I found it!" I kept shouting. "I found it! I found it! I found it! Thank you ZA-" I look back behind me to where the voice was, and he wasn't there. I look back at the green glowing rock in my hand. All is silent in the tunnels to me as I hold it, the final piece to the solution. I don't have much time before my first plague rat leaves.

* * *

It was a long trip.

I knew it would be. I had to make sure that Twitch wouldn't attempt to find us. That and I needed to get some more food at the cultivairs and the commercias for good ol' Scratch. He lays on my back, arms sprawled out and hands clutching into my substance. His eyes were closed and his brown fur shaking less. I smile, knowing the feeling of being in good hands. Reminded me when I was saved.

I walk closer and closer to the surface and the light sounds of people begin to wake Scratch up. He looks up at the light. he touches my shoulder and points upward.

"Hey little fella," I said warmly. I look up with him. "Yeah. We're going up there. They're just people. You wanna be careful around them. They can be pretty hostile," I look towards him as he just blankly stares at me. I bite my lip. "Uh.. just stay with me pal. It's a dangerous world up there," I reassure as I pushed him closer to my skin with my hand. He continued to look up and so did I. "But I'll promise you this, you'll learn to like them. I'll tell you everything. Just.. point if you wanna know anything, ok? Like this," I point to his nose.

As we go on, Scratch begin to point to everything in his path. To different people's voices. To various machines that made him falter. To construction equipment.. It became hard to make up reasons. At that point, I could only make up various stories from what could be one whisper and tone, but the warm feeling behind me was all worth it, but then it starts to wane as all of the sounds of people and construction starts became less apparent until everything's silent and cold. Scratch's grasp on my skin grew firmer and I felt his hands shaking.

"We're fine!" I tell him repeatedly. "This is the safest place. Trust me," We finally reach the ladder. I climb up and remove the manhole very carefully. I go out to see a ghost town full of abandoned houses all cracked to the point where one would question how they could still stand. They ache as the wind blew into their wounds. I breathed heavily before looking at my old home again. "Welcome home pal," I said as Scratch looks around, jerking his head back and forth to see the entire neighborhood.

"Hey.. There's no people here. We'll go see them later, but for right now we need a rest. Just stay with me." I open the door to my old home, the place where it all started, the wood creaking heavily as I did so. Everything's vacated, but I could just imagine seeing all of the photos and everything that was there before the event happened, and now I'm starting it again. Scratch tapped my shoulder and pointed to a basement door on the floor blown open to smithereens. My body trembled at that site. The gun that blew it open..

"That's... That's where you're gonna sleep pal."

I walk him downstairs to the basement and set a makeshift bed with trash bags and any blankets I could find. I set him down on his bed and he looks at me innocently, wondering what to do next.

I gave him some of my substance and begin to point at the wall. "Well.. let's.. tell you a story. It's my favorite! Atomic Man!" I begin to draw a stick figure with a large cape in a superhero pose. Scratch stares at the wall where the drawings took place. That same wonder in his eyes as I tell the same story.

"Now.. It starts off like this.."


	6. Night in the Cultivair

I smell the cauldron boiling under the green light of my home... The scent is perfect as they begin to blend into a deep green. I have to maintain this temperature lest I want the magic to leak out! I take a handful of casks and put them in. I counted 5. For 5 brilliant subjects loyal to the sewer king! Subjects that SHOULD be loyal! This will be good for now. I'll make more eventually, but time is running short for me. I put 4 of them on my back and 1 of them on my crossbow for safety measures. Just in case they wanted to reject MY peaceful and ultimately better offers. Now it's only a matter of finding just where they are.

"Roachmen!" I shout frantically, clawing on the walls heavily for one of them to pop out. By my command, one did. It simply looked at me for the cracks. I swipe him in my hand quickly and wrapped him in a fist. "You.. You saw him, yes!?" I ask. "Tell me where he went... My first subject!" The roach squeaks frantically as it tries to escape. "Hm.. What? He's with the Goopy One?" My hand loosens in disbelief. The roach roams free, but stays on my fingers. "So.. he was telling the truth.." I look into the potion deeply. I turn to see ZAC's little trash-bag bed in the corner of the lair with some of his weird posters from the surface. The bed wasn't made and it's an utter mess. Dust and rat bones piled all over the place and my test potions leaked on some of his famed "heroes". Usually he would be one to clean things up...

"What.. what day is it? How many had past?" I ask.

The roach peeped. I step back. "A week... A WEEK!?" I shout in disbelief. "He... He left me!" I pause for a moment. "He's trying to take MY subject away! MY plague rat!" I try to think of the many excuse he would've had. Nothing came up, all that came up was the potions.. The hard work that was put it. The hard work grows heavy in my beady eyes. I never slept for days! I've always slept when ZAC introduced it to me, but NOW I worked every hour, every minute, EVERY SECOND; it MUST work! It's all in my grasp, but he took it away! I look back at my beloved work with my sweat and tears and cackle at its glow. "Hehe.. Heh.. He's my friend.. My subject. He wouldn't do this to me! HE CAN'T! He's mine! yes? MINE! Hehe..HAHAH! Even if he did.. I can just get him back. I can get him back with MY creation!" I huff, feeling my voice crack. The roach looks at me suspciously I see it in his small eyes!

"SHUT UP! This.. this is for the greater good! They'll be better with ME as ruler! ME under their helm! Those two have NOWHERE TO GO! They just don't realize it yet.. They don't understand it.. but they will eventually.." I pat the potions on my back as I giggled. "Now.. do as your sewer king commands: tell me.. _where did they run to?"_

* * *

Click!

The lock's broken. I took my green key-shaped hand out of the keyhole and transformed it back to a normal looking hand. I walk in, feeling the fresh green air blowing across my head. It always feels nice to go in here to take a break, but I shouldn't stay here for long; someone's waiting for food back at the house. I look over the numerous exotic fruits and vegetables as if it was a grocery shop. I held the apples, dragon fruits, durians.. all of them and held it to my nose. Scratch likes soft fruits; his teeth are pretty misshapen, and he likes sweets like me. Let's just hope he doesn't barf the food out like next time. Any fruit I found is put into a bag I carried on my arm. Apples.. Oranges.. some lettuce and broccoli for health...

As I continue collecting, I always find myself distracted by the cultivair's beauty, both inside and outside. The plants were always exotic and interesting, containing all forms of colors I can never imagine and the cultivair is positioned on a small cliff above the city of Zaun. I press myself on to the glass dome and watch the sparkles of yellow and green sprinkled across the depths of the canyon underneath Piltover. Within those lights, I hear pleasant street music and heartwarming conversations and family reunions after a hard day's work. I could smell the foods from all walks of life: Demacia and Noxus and Ionian..

CRREEEAK!

I freeze in my tracks. The door's opened again. I quickly went to the nearest pipe that supplies the plants the water they need. I move through the cracks into the pipes. I hear the thud of the bag of fruits as I transition in. It's bound to be found. It's impossible to shove foods in a pipe.. I look through the cracks, spying on the bag of fruit closely. I hear footsteps on the grass as well as some grunts, but no shadow and no figure found. The rustling of grass became louder and louder. I need to leave. Find another cultivair. I wiggle towards the exit, but I found something crawling in my skin, a bug.

The figure shoots at the very pipe I was in. I jump out, hearing the water begin to burst behind me in a spray of water.

"There you are.. I figured you would be here.. Of all the places.." Twitch growls.

I turn my head to look forward. I see the rat's pink eyes glaring at me with hate and his crossbow pointed directly at my eyes. Behind him lies the mansion that owns the cultivair and whose shadow envelops the city. "What are you doing here Twitch?" I ask. "I'm just getting some food. I know how much you hate fresh fruits, so it can't be that reason."

"Don't you toy with me goop!" Twitch shouts. "I KNOW you have what I need!" He paused. "Listen to the sewer king.. Tell me where _he_ is!?"

"Why should I, pal?" I respond. "He's not your weapon."

"No.. He's my SUBJECT! And I want my subject with ME! Where else can he go? HM?"

"I don't know about you, but anywhere that's not around you would be nice."

"Oh really?" Twitch huffs as he puts his crossbow up and points to something behind me. "So you think that he would be safe over THERE! In the surface!"

I turn around, looking back at the yellow and green sparkles in the darkness.

"The roaches tell me of the surface all the time.. Of murder.. Of experimentation.. Of monsters.. and Scratch would be better off there!? Hmph! You know it... You've seen it.. You've felt it! He's netter with me.."

I didn't move. I couldn't move..

I barely hear the sound of his footsteps as the plague rat approached closer to me as my mind was preoccupied by what was between those lights.

"Listen.." Twitch grumbles in a much softer, worrisome voice. "These humans.. They're murderous creatures with no control. ALWAYS stealing from ME and you.. Always playing you the puppet! But I can fix it when I rule.. Yes.. I have the potion to do it! For them to listen to me.. For them to obey me.. My future subjects won't steal! My slaves won't falter! Won't leave! Not when Twitch makes the rules! Everyone's safe.. Subjects need rulers to follow.. I just need this first step.. I need my new subject to be safe and obedient.. Where is he?"

I look back at the glimmers in the darkness and imagine the happiness and joy around it. For it to be taken away... For Scratch to be taken away..

"No..." I growl.

"What!?"

"I said.. no pal. And that's the last I'll hear of it. He's not something for you to use. Seems like rulers need subjects to obey, not the other way around." I pick up my bag across the fields of grass. I didn't even give the rat a glance; I already imagined his pitiful face. it makes me angry thinking about it. I held way too long at hope for the little guy. "Just go back to your millions of roaches and play king there, okay? I'm not playing your sick game anymore." I begin to head out to the door.

"This isn't a game! I AM the sewer king! You're.. you're my subject! What the surface considers 'friends'! I-I have more of my obedience potion.. I can get you too! We can be friends again!" I stop, but only slightly before walking my path again, resisting the urge to punch him. Seems like the definition of "friends" is foreign to Twitch, but suddenly, I hear the familiar metal rustle coming off his back. The strings whirring back to release the arrow. I turned around.. "T-then if you won't let me take this first step with me... then let the sewer king do it himself!" The arrow fired, but only pierced through the outer layer of my skin. I could feel the serum trying to pull through, but it's nothing more than another delusional experiment.

I couldn't control myself. I rushed to Twitch and slammed him on the glass dome. The rat begs me to stop, tries to command me to put me down, but none of it worked. His arms squirmed tirelessly in my hands as I looked down at the nervous cowardly wretch as he closed his eyes in fear and agony. There's something cathartic seeing him this way. He sees everything as objects and weapons and tools and things to be used. My hands grew attracted at the throat where he breathes. I feel the air going through rapidly and rapidly as my fingers held it. "Seems like your potion didn't work pal.. If you think I'M gonna be a weapon, you have another thing coming.."

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The security alarm of the entire facility goes off. All my anger dissipated to shock as I look up and see the flashing lights of the chem baron's mansion go off. My hands drop Twitch to reveal cracked glass where I pressed him on. I press my hand on my handiwork on this faint mirror, feeling the blunt and brash damage I've caused as Zaun glimmers from behind with what little light it had. I look back. Twitch is gone. Blight light rays and the clanking of augmented feet take his place. I turn back to the glass, feeling the frailness of it... How fast it could shatter.. No. I'm better than that.

I seep through the cracks, leaving the fruit behind and never turning back.


	7. The Green Death

"Scratch! I'm home!" I shout as I enter the room from the front door with a small bag in my hand. While it may look awful outside, I decided to make some little renovations to make it less depressing. Most of the cracks were smoothed out inside and all signs of scattered glass and wood were thrown in the garbage. All was quiet in the house. It's expected; I did tell him to stay silent when he hears something the footsteps through the ceiling. I head over to a revealing pipe that I've grown a bit too familiar with. I've always escaped through this thing from my old room, Scratch's room. I knocked on it 9 times, 3 sets of one knock followed by a pause then 2 consecutive knocks.

I look across the hall, hearing the faint footsteps in the silence across the hall. The door was blocked by an old heavy desk I got from the junkyard. I lift it up revealing a brown rat in the stairs. He lunged at me to hug me. He dug his hands deep into my tough green skin and climbed on top of my shoulder quickly. He leaned forward to my arm to sniff the contents of the bag..

"Hey!" I say, holding the bag away. "Be patient pal. Heh. It's not gonna go anywhere." I walk down the stairs before dragging the desk back in its place, concealing the opening, leaving the two of us in the basement with only a small yellow lantern illuminating the room. "Sorry I was late buddy. I got into a.. complication." I mumble, feeling my hand go to my back. I could feel the arrow's mark just behind my left shoulder. Of course the skin reformed, but it felt like the scar still existed. He crossed the line...

Instinctively, Scratch begins to sniff at the spot. I felt puffs of air on my skin before reaching over to guide his head away. I reached in my bag to get a piece of stale bread. "Hey.. I could hear your stomach grumbling, huh?" I said, raising the bread and turning my head to meet his eyes. "Here! It's.. not what you wanted. There.. was no fruit today. I'm sorry."

He paused before grabbing the bread, his hands shaking in hesitation. His eyes dart back to the spot I was shot.

Finally, the trek through the old wooden stairs is over. At the end there was only a singular room with 2 small beds made from various trash bags. In the center there was a lantern and on the wall closest to it were some drawings and a small piece of green chalk at the foot of the wall. We sit near the lantern, eating the food slowly in silence. I couldn't say anything, all I could do is go back to the scar routinely throughout the dinner, patting it and imagining a dent that wasn't there filled with ineffective poison as my skin radiates heat to effortlessly combat it as I go for his throat...

"Squeak!" Scratch yelped, holding the green chalk in his hand and a small piece of bread in the other.

I pause before replying. "Uh.. Shouldn't you wait after dinner pal. You haven't finished your meal.." I point to the bread in his hand.

He shakes his head no and just points to a dark corner in the room.

"You.. wanna show me something?" I grab the lantern and take his hand. I gave a slight smile. "Surprise me buddy."

He leads me to the corner of the wall. It begins to illuminate to reveal what seemed to be a big headed rat with crazy, pupil-less eyes and large ears holding various stick figure rats to a cauldron. Below the cauldron were just pictures of individual bones. I just stared at those eyes as they stared into me. "Wha.. What's going on buddy?" I ask, worried. "Is this another nightmare again? Those.. bad thoughts?"

He slightly nods his head yes.

I walk up to the draw and smudged my hand on top of it, using the fluids within me to wash away the chalk. It barely worked, only taking away minor markings but the whole figure was still intact. I swipe the green crayon away from Scratch. "Listen to me pal. I know you're scared of him. I know he did bad things to you; he did bad things to me too, and I trusted the guy, but he's all behind us now, ok? You're safe here! He doesn't know we're here and he hates the surface. Too much light, y'know? Heh." I gaze at the hideous display again before crossing it out with a big green "X".

"No more of these drawings okay? It's not good for you to worry." I smooth out his rustled fur. "Heh. That's my job now. Tell you what." I ate the bread in my other hand in one clean swoop. "We can start story time now! Bet you were waiting for that!" I take Scratch and the lantern away from the drawing of his creator, obscuring it in darkness. I lead him to a clean wall, a clean slate. "Now.. I have 3 stories in mind.." I take the green chalk and begin to draw out the choices.

"I have another story about Atomic Man.. You can't go wrong with that," I said, drawing a stick figure with a cape across his back.

"There's a nice one about a guy at the Sumps! I was pretty surprised with that one. Real too!" I drew a thug with a mohawk.

"There's also a Blitzcrank story. I always like stories with that lovable machine.." I drew a circle with 2 circles within to signify his eyes.

"Well.. What do you want today? I'm ready!"

He points to my left shoulder.

"Guess... you're curious huh." I pause.

"Blitzcrank it is."

* * *

"How.. How did it not work!?" I shout as I pace repeatedly around the cauldron that now holds my creation. The question repeats. Over and over and over and over again. "How did it not work? How did it not work? How did it not work!?" I gaze into my reflection in the green liquid. Maybe it was time.. Maybe he would come back to me later in the day. Maybe the blob's skin proved too hard to penetrate! Yes! That must be it! But.. why was he that aggressive to his original superior!? What inserted those awful thoughts and actions to his head! Twitch was a great king.. Must be side effects.. It had to be side effects! This was originally meant to target my own rats after all, NOT SENTIENT BLOBS, yet.. it should've worked.. It should've worked!

I reach my clawed hands to my neck, feeling the pressure on top of it as it was before. So much strength.. So much.. audacity! I.. I can barely breathe as I imagine the pain and anguish as my own subject tries to exterminate me. I couldn't breathe. Only puffs of air comes out. Puff. Puff. Puff. Puff.

I let go of my neck, gasping for air. I look back at the potion that may have caused my demise. "You.." I shout at the green reflection staring back at me. "It was YOUR job to make them see me as the sewer king I AM! The sewer king Twitch is! They're supposed to like me.. I.. I saved one of them! I gave them the gift of sentience! They should be mine.. and now they might as well be dead! The surface isn't kind.." I look into the cauldron again as it begins to boil underneath the green lantern. I huff and puff.. Breathing in and out.. The sewer king can fix this. The sewer king can get everything that was his back..

The intoxicating toxins hit my nose. I take the potion's call. I sniff and sniff and sniff and sniff to decipher what could be missing. My rapid, excited hands grab at everything, potions, sludge, larvae, everything that could be the piece to the grand puzzle of THE future! MY future! The stench begins to converge to something harmonious, something grand, something perfect! It was fixed, done, ready!

I scour the walls through every crack and cranny, digging my claws to seep all of the roach men out before I could find _him_.

"YOU!" I shout at him. Time was of the essence. "You told me that there were 4 possibilities.. 1 of them worked! You must tell me the others.. TELL ME NOW!" The hand squeezes violently as he merely squeak the answers I ask. "Of course..." I mutter. I grab my crossbow and scramble out to find him. I hear the grumbling of the machines as I go closer and closer to the surface, an area where the people command their metal slaves to build on top of tombs. This wasn't the place for my subjects.. Surface was never good for anyone.. They need me...

They need Twitch..


	8. Subjects of the Sewers

The dreaded bell of the surface is about to ring the dreaded toll, its noise echoing across the land for all to hear, beckoning for many to wake up into the morning. The bells strikes. I count. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. The sixth hour. Morning or night, breakfast or dinner, it doesn't matter to me. The Goopy One must leave to get his food for both him and my creation.

I cannot be too sure. If he's there, he could ruin everything. My hand ultimately reaches for my neck. His hands are on top of it. I breathe and breathe and breathe. I take a small roach in my fur and send it through the cracks to check. I sit underneath what seems to be the abandoned house so long ago. It was empty of dirty humans and worthless surface filth, just 2 of my subjects in a ghost town. I imagine the silence with only the sound of empty screams from the houses as the winds blew in them. I sit in the humid tunnels beneath waiting for my loyal roachman to return with my information, imagining the scene play out.

I took the potion out, seeing its green glow and its radiating heat. It's still warm like a green bloody heart, filled with new life for the kingdom. As such, I caress it as if a baby.. As if Scratch himself.. I even see a reflection across it looking back at me. Today, the sewers will be reborn. Today they'll be brought back to their real home. Today, my first subject will be mine because of _this_! My greatest treasure! My greatest key! He will not like you.. Yes.. He will fight against you.. He will try to destroy you... but you've seen me.. You know me. You can make them obey me, their ruler! I do not know where they get these insidious thoughts.. Everything I did is for MY kingdom, but YOU can change that..

CRANK!

I grow stiff. Only silence clouded my mind. I look across the tunnel to where the source comes from. Instinctively, I place my potion away on my back, raise my crossbow loaded with my traditional poisons and point into the darkness. I only hear the light pitter patter of sewage. My hands shake as I stare directly in darkness. Nothing comes out, but the implications still rang true. I always knew they were true. The humans would come any moment now, but they've always ignored it. They're dead.

I look down to my crossbow and unloaded the poisons within and replaced them with the potion in the case of desperate measures. My roachman comes back from the cracks. I feel his legs climbing up mine as he tries to go to my fingers. I give him my attention and he nods yes. He wasn't there.

* * *

The waters wash and fade as I climb up, up, up the pipe. I see the surface quickly. It was utter darkness; I couldn't see anything, but I smell the stench of fresh Zaunite air recycled from the bright city above. It comes closer and closer until finally a large splash can be heard across the house. When I hear it myself, I start to stiffen when I come out of the old worn out porcelain portal. My head immediately jolts to the closed door to my right. I slowly come off and blend in with my surroundings as I've always done. I wait for the door to open or even creak, but nothing happened in what seemed to be 5 good minutes. The Goopy One can come in any moment.

I open the door slowly to reveal a small brown rat in what seems like an island of light created by a sole burning yellow lantern. He clutches the accursed light fondly as he moves away slowly until he hits a wall. I see the stairs nearby, a way to escape to a deathtrap. Avoiding the light that reveals my shadow, I position myself between him and the stairs to block it if he tries to run. I tip toe slowly to that position, taking note in every step, every movement that my plague rat subject would make. All he did was stare at the door in anticipation of something, possibly the Goopy One himself.

"There you are.." I growl.

He didn't even turn; he knew the voice. He steps back and tries to run away. He squeaks and squeals for help, but nothing can be heard hear. "Now.. Time for YOU to go back to MY kingdom.. where you belong.." I hold the potion up again in my hand for him to see. He shrivels even more, moving back until he feel the concrete pavement of the wall behind him. The light he grasps illuminates it, showing the childish drawings he makes: a large rat with no pupils, me, atop a throne of rat bones with a large "X" covering it all. I'm taken aback. "What's... What's this!? This.. extermination!" I shout, pointing to the image behind. He wouldn't look back; he was already staring right at it. "You're supposed to like me.. You're supposed to like ME! I'm your creator AND the first plague rat! And.. and... and you see THIS! He brainwashed yo-"

CRANK!

It's the sound. Again. Much louder than the last. They were coming.

"You.. You think you're safe here!?" I shout, pointing to the direction of the sound. "The Goopy One's delusional.. You heard that.. Those are the surface dwellers.. The surface dwellers with their machines and chemicals.. With their many ways to exterminate US!" His face didn't change. He only closed his eyes, thinking it would make me disappear.

I grip his hand. He tries to fight. He's too weak. "Everything will change my little subject.." I said. I gesture to the wall with my supposed face. "All of this will change! You are Twitch's subject! Twitch is not your enemy.. The sewer king wants the best for his subjects.. I have something to make you see the truth!"

I take out the potion behind my back. He fought back even more at its sight. "DON'T YOU FIGHT! Your king commands it! Just close your eyes.. It may hurt, but it will all be better in the end.." I inch the potion closer and closer to Scratch's face until I feel the cask that holds it heat up suddenly. I look at it in surprise to see it glow bright. Suddenly, Scratch escapes my grip and pushes me away with immense ferocity. I look up to see his fur slightly glow green as it did back in the comforting depths of my home. It.. it must be a sign! It must be a sign that it works! Hehe.. It will work!

Seeing my position, he lunges up to the stairs to find a way out. As he runs over to the supposed safety of the wooden steps, he stops at the loud rumble above. They're here. Time was running out. With no thought, I lunge at him, pinning him down to the ground. He squirms endlessly in my weight as his fur begin to react again.

"Just a drip.. JUST A DRIP! PLEASE!" I shout desperately as I resist the urge to cackle. I hold the potion up to his face, letting it drip in his mouth one by one. Let the lies end! Let my subjects be with me! Let them trust me! Let them be mine! It drops closer and closer and closer to his mouth. I grow eager at the result.

He screams and screams and screams as the drops enter, but it will be worth it. Like the bones in my lair, the sewer king must face pain and sacrifice. Closer and closer and closer..

"Hey! What's going on down there!?" I heard someone say from the light above. I stop in my track, but that didn't stop Scratch. He threw me off and cowered back in his corners, knowing that voice wasn't ZAC's. He shriveled back below the my hideous image, dropping the lantern in the floor, as he begin to grasp his mouth, squeaking in pain. I see smoking coming from the skin. He begin to barf it out, ejecting it all out from his system. i saw a good portion of his lower face all scarred and burned as he tries to barf the poison out. He was vulnerable, too busy with the toxins to face me, yet I still hear the many footsteps above trying to lift the furniture blocking the entrance. I look up at my picture and look back at the potion, the one that I worked so hard on..

I took my crossbow and fired at the lone lantern. The island of light was gone. The image was gone. Suddenly, the door was blown open and massive amount of light broke through from the surface. On the stairs above us was a sole surface dwelling monster marching down the stairs. More were coming. I tried to hold Scratch's hand, but he refused to escape with me... Those thoughts still plagued his mind.. There was no choice.

I fired and fired and fired. I hear screams. I hear the heads hitting the ground, The monsters above us continuously fell. I hear my cackle. I hear my loud threats. No one was taking my subject away. No one was destroying us. Guns were fired, but there were aimless in the dark while the light made their location cleared. I fired and fired and fired...

All of the walls and the drawings were cracked, and the room was filled with corpses that no one could see. Only 2 remain in the darkness. I approach the shadow still shivering and twitching in the loan corner. I try to get him up, but even when I saved him, he would never come up..

Suddenly the house begin to creak and cry. Rubbles of cements begin to fall on our fur. I look up in horror as the basement begins to collapse.

* * *

I knew something went wrong. I just knew it. I could feel the screams and the pain from so many miles away. From even the cultivairs of the upper levels of Zaun, I could still sense what seems to be a massacre. I drop my food and just went through the pipes as fast as I could. I zoom past the depths of the city wishing that it was all just superstition, that Scratch was just safe drawing away whatever he wants, but all of that washes away when I see the neighborhood in ruins with new abandoned construction equipment. "SCRATCH!?" I scream. "SCRATCH!?" I run through the pipes and crack of my old house and went to the basement. The smell of death and blood hit me hard as I went through, fueling my anxieties and woes even more. Suddenly, I pop out of the pipes into the basement as sediment begin to fall down on my head. I look around to find corpses of all kinds and broken pieces of Scratch's charming art. However, if it was all corpses, there wouldn't be the sense of fear and dread. I look in front to see Scratch all safe and another trying to hold on to him. I couldn't care less on who this other person is; my instinct drove in and I grab the two quickly. Large cracks begin to form, letting the zaunite light through. I ready my legs to jump through the building. "Hold on tight fellas.." I warned. I leap upwards, crashing through the frail ceiling like a meteorite aimed towards the sky. As I went up, I looked down to see the disasters of my old home broken to smithereens by a nearby wrecking ball. My substance begins to grow light, becoming a small parachute for the two.

I tore my sight away from the wreckage. "At least Scratch was safe.." I repeat to myself. "At least Sc-" I stop when my eyes begin to look at the second person that I saved: Twitch. This inclusion changed everything. He was responsible for all of those dead bodies. I begin to notice the numerous new scars that Scratch obtained , specifically a big one located on his jaw..

The two landed softly on the ground. Immediately, Scratch went up to hug me, digging his face to his head to relax the newfound scars. I hug back, relieved that he was still alive, but then I look back at the twisted monster.

I place Scratch down with a small bloblet to press his injuries on and march to twitch. I grab him by the chest and pin him down to the ground.

"What. Did. You. Do?" I ask adamantly. "What did you do to Scratch!? And what did you do to everyone!?"

"I.. I saved him.." He croaks. "Those... people.. if I wasn't there, they would've killed him.."

I glance at the wrecking ball and then the wreckage of my old home and then the Twitch himself, looking tired and defeated. "You still tried to feed him that potion..." I growl. my grip released him. "If I see you again, I'm breaking an arm. I don't care. I don't want to see you again.." I turn back to him, walking

"But where will you go..?" Twitch squeaks. I'm surprised. I was expecting that he would run away like the coward he was. "Look what happened here.. The humans are spreading up here. They'll find you.. and they'll exterminate you.. They're a plague.. I told you many times! They're a plague! AND HE WOULD'VE BEEN KILLED!"

"I'll find another place!"

"But where!?" I pause, not knowing where to go. Everywhere I look I see old houses that are now dead, house that I thought were safe havens. "It's.. it's the only place.. I have more rooms in the sewers.. Please... You don't have to live in my lair. Please..."

* * *

I march back into the sewers, packing the normal trash bag beds and yellow lanterns into an empty pipe room. Me and Scratch said nothing throughout the trip. He only clings around my neck, not wanting to be in this living nightmare any longer. When we settle down, I begin to check the numerous cracks of the pipe room, looking for roaches and bugs and anything Twitch can use to spy on us. I still threatened to break his arm if I saw him here. Still would. Nothing was in the cracks. Nothing was there _yet_ might I add.

I look over to Scratch who was shivering on his trash bag, not believing the turn of events. I come over to comfort him. "Hey.. This is only temporary. We'll find a home eventually.. Don't worry about it," I sigh. " I have something to show you." I look into my trash bag and took out what seems to be a small magical hextech gauntlet meant to manipulate any form of magic. When we were packing, I went over to get something at the promenade before we left. Usually my parents would disapprove of stealing, but I had no choice.

I wore it and begin to show a small electric ball. "See this? It can do all sort of things." I begin to form it in the many drawings that Scratch has made throughout the weeks. Some just 2 dimensional static drawings while others were 3 dimensional models acting the drawings out. "I got it just for you.. You can play around it. Just focus on the ball and focus on what you want to make.." I watched as Scratch manipulate the ball endlessly. I see the balls glow reflected in his eyes as it gives light to a dark world, same as I when my parents first showed it to me. I would have to teach him how to wield it. Magic's not just used for fancy light shows.. I don't even know how to do that myself.. My parents never taught me.

I look back in the dark corridors of the sewers, thinking I heard a large skitter. Thinking I heard the footsteps of what could be a hidden rat. He was nowhere to be found. I may have to teach him quick..

As Scratch played with the ball, it began to turn green.


End file.
